KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 21 — Malaysia's labour productivity rose 2.6 per cent in the third quarter (Q3) 2019 compared with 2.4 per cent in the preceding quarter, the Department of Statistics (DOSM) said in a statement today.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said total hours worked during this quarter increased 1.7 per cent against 2.4 per cent in Q2 2019.
“In this quarter, Services and Manufacturing sectors recorded the highest growth of labour productivity by hours worked at 2.9 per cent. This was followed by agriculture (1.8 per cent) and construction (1.6 per cent) sectors.
“However, labour productivity for the mining and quarrying sector declined to 3.4 per cent after registering negative 0.7 per cent in the preceding quarter,” he said.
The labour productivity is expressed in terms of value-added per hour worked and value-added per employment by kind of economic activities.
It is measured as the ratio of value-added to hours worked.
“Labour productivity is a key driver of economic growth. It indicates the ability of a country to produce goods and services of each hour of a labour’s time.
Besides that, Mohd Uzir said labour productivity as measured by the ratio of value-added to employment grew 2.3 per cent (Q2 2019: 2.8 per cent) while employment growth sustained at 2.1 per cent (Q2 2019: 2.1 per cent).
— Bernama
